Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Charles Edward was a British prince until 1919, the last sovereign duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a state of the German Empire, reigning from 30 July 1900 to 14 November 1918, and later a Nazi politician. He was given various positions in the Nazi regime, including leader of the German Red Cross, and acted as an unofficial diplomat for the German government.
Charles Edward in 1933 as SA-Gruppenführer
Charles Edward's birthplace
Charles Edward (front centre) with his sister, mother and maternal family (1895)
Charles Edward with his staff at a military exercise (1904)
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was an Ernestine duchy in Thuringia ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present-day states of Thuringia and Bavaria in Germany. It lasted from 1826 to 1918. In November 1918, Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was forced to abdicate. In 1920, the northern part of the duchy was merged with six other Thuringian free states to form the Free State of Thuringia: Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Altenburg and Saxe-Meiningen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, as well as the People's State of Reuss. The southern part of the duchy, as southernmost of the Thuringian states, was the only one which, after a referendum, became part of the Free State of Bavaria.
Coburg Fortress
Veste Coburg
Friedenstein Palace, Gotha
Reinhardsbrunn Castle, Gotha